This invention relates to trauma dressings, and more particularly, to trauma dressings suitable for intraoral use.
Traumatic injuries to the face and oral cavity have always presented treatment problems due to the importance of maintaining in the victim a free and unobstructed airway. It has not been the practice in treating oral or facial injuries in the field to use any kind of dressing or sponge intraorally because of the danger that the victim may aspirate the dressing or sponge, causing asphyxiation. Due to the poor accessibility of the location, it can be very difficult to extract a dressing which has become lodged in a patient's airway. Consequently, use of absorbent dressings intraorally has been avoided, and it has been necessary to rely on suction to prevent particulates or blood from blocking the airway. However, suction alone is inadequate to prevent blood loss and resulting hypovolemic shock.
Surgical sponges are known to the art which have loops or strings attached to them. Examples include the devices disclosed in Stone, U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,393; Reimels, U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,935; and Shiff, U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,666. However, none of these are suitable for intraoral use. Moreover, their retrieval loops or strings are limp and can collapse inside the patient's oral cavity.
Similarly, absorbent tampons are known which have attached withdrawal strings. For example, see Wolfe et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,098. These devices are subject to all the same disadvantages of the aforementioned surgical sponges.
Special dental sponges have been designed for intraoral use in conjunction with dental surgery. See, for example, Wall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,314; which discloses a variety of such devices. Also, a special epistaxis sponge with a relatively rigid handle for intranasal use in treating nosebleeds is disclosed in Rangaswamy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,326. Due to the special configurations of these devices, however, they are not suitable for treating intraoral injuries due to facial or oral trauma.
There is a need for a dressing which may be used intraorally in treatment of facial or oral trauma without compromising the safety of the victim or the effectiveness of the dressing.